


See You Again

by Lunateller



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Because this is some of my best work, But somehow its worth it, Even though its trash lmao, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff and Angst, Fluffy Ending, How Do I Tag, I Blame Tumblr, I Don't Even Know, I Made Myself Cry, I Tried, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I Wrote This Instead of Doing Classwork, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I live for these characters, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Sorry, Idk man I'm not sure what I'll do with this tbh, Idk what i'm doing, Im gonna fail now, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Keith doesnt know what hes doing but hes trying, Keith is a gay disaster, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Lance is a bi disaster, Lance is confused but doing his best, M/M, Maybe eventual marriage, Not Canon Compliant, Pidge is a little shit, Pidge | Katie Holt is a Good Friend, These characters are my children and I promise they will be happy eventually, but it does get better, even though its bad lol, i hope you like this, lance is a little shit, life after death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2020-11-08 15:08:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20837543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunateller/pseuds/Lunateller
Summary: I need my ships, I adore life after death fics, angst and fluff is a common thing here, I'm dead and tired and this is my thing now soooo fuck yeah let's give this a try. This is like, my first attempt at a fic so if it sucks I do apologize!!! Idk how to write summaries, so I guess just read on and fear for your life lmao





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Keith a mess and Lance still tries to joke. Also badly written confessions of a pair of hopeless gays because emotionally they're pretty beat wooo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: the major character death happens in this chapter. After that it gets a little worse before it gets better. 
> 
> Edited/reposted: 10/23 @ 9:27 pm 
> 
> Orig. word count: about 700  
New word count: 1,524

It was only supposed to be a simple mission. None of this was supposed to happen. In and out of some random Galra base for some intel gathering, that's all. The compound was supposed to be practically deserted, not full of sentries and guards like this. This wasn't supposed to happen, but it was happening, and Keith didn't know what to do. Everything was just so wrong about this whole thing, and it only continued to get worse and worse, and there was nothing that Keith could do to even try to stop this, to fix it in any way. 

Now, there was far too much dark red where there should have been bright blue, and no matter what he tried, Keith couldn’t make it stop. There was just so much blood, and it wouldn't stop, just kept coming no matter how hard he tried to make it stop, and Keith was starting to panic. How could this have happened to Lance? Keith had been right there, right next to him, but he had still been run straight through with a nasty looking Galran blade. 

It had all happened in slow motion, it seemed. They had been surrounded, so they had fought back to back, and as soon as Keith finished off his opponents, he turned to help Lance, just in time to see the offending blade strike Lance, and see the sick panic that crossed his face before suddenly he was falling. Keith had seen red, and before he really knew what had happened, he had taken down the guard and pulled Lance onto his lap, trying desperately to stop the blood. Keith knew his face was probably as pale as a ghost as the panic and realization that he couldn’t do anything to help set in. 

“Lance…” he choked out, trying to breathe as the panic closed his throat and turned his blood to ice. Nothing around him seemed real. He wished he could will Lance to be better, but logically, that was impossible. Not that logic was Keith’s top priority at the moment. Keith’s only priority was Lance, and doing his best to help him any way he possibly could. Even thinking about the worst case scenario though, made Keith’s breath hitch and panic to rear is ugly head anew. 

"Hey there, Samurai. Don't get all choked up on me now," Lance attempted to joke weakly with a slight wince. "It's merely a flesh wound." His light chuckles then turned into pained coughs and groans as his hands went to clutch his wound, only to rest over Keith's shaking ones that were already there, in attempts to staunch the flow of blood the best he could. 

"A flesh wound?” Keith’s voice was high and panicky, and he hated it, but he couldn’t stop it when every second that help didn’t arrive was one more second closer to the very real possibility that he could lose Lance. “Lance, you were stabbed clean through with a sword! You're… you’re bleeding out and I can't… I can't stop it!" Keith growled as he felt tears traitorously pricking at his eyes. Lance sobered up immediately, and offered Keith a small, weak smile of reassurance.

"Hey… don't worry about me, I’m going to be fine, okay? Just, Keith, I want you to promise me something…. Promise me that no matter what, you'll be okay? You'll stay safe?" Lance practically begged him, eyes pleading and worried. Keith had never seen Lance like this, worried and practically begging, so before he full registered what Lance was saying, he was already agreeing. He’d do anything for Lance.

"I promise, we’ll both be okay, promise. Hang on, Lance, please. Help is coming, I swear, and Lance please, I, I can't lose you." Keith's voice gradually lowered to a whisper, heavy with what he really wanted to say but didn't know how to. Lance snorted softly and placed a now trembling hand on Keith's cheek.

"Touching, but if you're trying to say something, you should say it bluntly." His smile faltered for once, and fear shone brightly on his eyes. "I don't know if I'll make it to hear it in full later." He took a rattling, shaky breath. The comms were going crazy with static and frantic calls, but both Lance and Keith seemed to be frozen in that moment.

"Damn it Lance, you better not die before I get the chance to tell you I love you." Keith blurted in a panic, not really registering he had finally said it, that he had actually admitted he liked Lance. As soon as he did register what he said, he could feel his face heat up, but considering the circumstances, he didn’t actually mind it all too much. So instead, he brought his hand up and placed it gently over Lance’s hand that was still cupping his cheek softly. 

Lance chuckled softly, and gave Keith his best attempt at a brilliant grin. Even when it was weak, it still helped make Keith feel worlds better. If Lance was laughing, smiling his trademark smile, then… then he was going to be okay, wasn’t he? He still had his beautiful personality, was still the Lance Keith had fallen so helplessly in love with, so that had to be a good sign he’d make it out of this perfectly okay, right? Keith could only hope, and so hope he did that everything really would turn out okay. 

"Not exactly how I imagined this going, you know." Lance’s teasing comment made Keith freeze, looking at Lance in a sort of questioning shock. Lance had imagined this? Why would he imagine any of this? "You know, I was planning on making a big spectacle and a speech and everything, just to be extra and maybe to see you blush, if I could, but uh, I love you too." Lance whispered the last part, a ghost of a smile playing at his lips, and oh, Keith now knew what Lance had meant, but he still just didn’t quite understand.

"You… you what?" Keith knew he was moody and pushed people away. He always seemed to have a knack for that. Hell, even Lance thought they were rivals to start with, and Keith assumed it was because he had accidentally come off as cocky and unapproachable. Keith never could have imagined that someone as confident and bright as Lance could ever return his feelings. It came as a complete shock to him, but Lance had said it himself. 

"You heard me." Lance smiled softly again as he used a shaking hand to gently push Keith's bangs from his face. "I'm sorry." He finally whispered out, and suddenly Keith started, and panic seized hold of him all over again as he noticed that Lance had grown much too pale and he was shaking far too much, but he couldn't even say anything before Lance's hand fell and his eyes closed.

For a minute, Keith's stomach dropped. Everything came to a standstill. Then he was shaking Lance, pleading with him to wake up, come back to him, and finally, finally, Pidge reached them, Green's head barreling straight through the walls of the compound. Keith didn't waste time in picking up the still body of Lance, refusing to believe the worst had happened, and bolted towards Green, praying that Lance would be okay if he was fast enough, if he got Lance to a pod as soon as possible.

Everything that happened after that was a blur; getting back to the castle and getting Lance into the pod, the pod giving all sorts of warning and error notifications, and then suddenly, nothing. The pod opened and Keith caught Lance, who wasn't moving or breathing, and was steadily growing cold despite Keith's pleading that he wake up, that they put him back in the pod, that someone do something to help him. 

However, the unfortunate truth was that Lance would never wake up. He had lost too much blood and he hadn't gotten to the pod in time. He hadn't made it out of that mission alive. Keith cursed loudly because it wasn’t true. This couldn’t be happening to Lance. 

Lance, who had so much to live for. Lance, who made everyone smile and laugh even in the worst of times. Lance, who was so bright and was a friend to everyone, except to those that lost his unyielding trust. Lance, who had a family to go home to. Lance, who was so talented and who actually finally returned Keith’s feelings after so long of bottling them up. Lance, who had been right there, but Keith couldn't do anything to help, and didn’t even realize he was slipping away when he was in his arms. 

He suddenly felt very, very numb. Keith could only think one thing; it wasn't supposed to be this way. None of that should have happened. It was supposed to be an easy mission, Lance shouldn't have died. Keith should have done something, anything more to have saved him. He had promised him… he had said that they'd both be okay. How in the hell was this okay?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it even despite the mess!! If you have some constructive criticism, wanna tell me what you thought, or just wanna say hi, please do consider commenting!!! I'll try posting the next part soon. Until then, I hope you have a wonderful day/night!! 💕💕


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance just wants to go home but of course it's never that easy. Keith needs Lance to be back. It's all a bit of a mess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I dunno if I like this chapter but I've looked at it for weeks now and I'm tired of staring at it so I'm gonna throw it at your face instead. Congrats.

When Lance opened his eyes, he was confused. Everything was a blinding white and someone was speaking, but he couldn't hear anything very clearly, like his ears were blocked up or like the person speaking was mumbling so lowly that Lance could never hope to make it out. Gradually, the white faded to gray and the voices slowly came into a bit more focus, but they were still low, quiet mutters and came in bits in pieces. Eventually he sat up, and looked around slowly, only to see an endless, very empty gray room as all the quiet voices faded to nothing. Lance was not amused.

"Hey, uh, if this is the afterlife, it seriously sucks!" He grumbled. "Can I like, die again to get to a better afterlife? How does that work? Hello? Am I the only one here?" Lance called to the endless expanse. He huffed in mild annoyance when his own voice was the only one that echoed back to him in the empty room. 

In the air in front of him, some sort of countdown started, but everything was in some foreign characters Lance couldn't make out or understand. They kept shifting, but he had no idea what any of it meant or what he should do. He was honestly hoping that he could end up at least as some kind of ghost, maybe that way he'd be able to go back, look after his team… and protect Keith from doing anything rash like he always was. He smiled fondly at the thought, as even though he was dead, he still felt all warm gooey when he remembered that Keith had told him he loved him, and how he got red when he realized he had actually said that. Lance would gladly die many more times just to see Keith flustered and shocked and soft like that all over again. Though, it would be better if he could live and make Keith feel like that every day. If anyone deserved a happy ending, Lance wholeheartedly believed it was Keith. 

"Lance McClain," a cold, calculating voice announced, suddenly snapping him out of his thoughts about Keith. "Unauthorized death. Preparing for second chance protocol in roughly twelve hours. Agent 2317 will be in shortly to provide you with the necessary information. Please wait patiently. Thank you." 

"Uhm, what? Unauthorized death? Second chance protocol? Lady, you are speaking in code here and I just want to know what's going on, thanks, that'd be great." Lance sighed, exasperated, at the voice's announcement, but of course, she never responded. “Okay, fine. I’ll sit here in this really dull looking room and wait. Sounds like loads of fun.” Lance grumbled, but pulled his feet towards him so he’d be sitting criss crossed. He put his elbow firmly on his knee and plopped his chin onto his hand and sighed loudly. He was already tired of this whole being dead situation.

Eventually, Lance heard footsteps echoing in the distance of the grayness, and when he turned to look, he saw a distinctly male figure in a fancy black and white suit, carrying a small briefcase, who was walking straight towards him. Lance stood as the figure neared him, and, when prompted, shook his hand. The man nodded, and that’s when Lance realized that he had no features at all, just a blank, paper white void where a face should have been. However, somehow, he still spoke and his voice sounded as clear and normal as any humanoid speech, albeit far too emotionless, which didn’t sit quite right with Lance.

“Hello. I am Agent 2317. I have been assigned to your case, Unauthorized Death, case number 281. Do you have any questions before we proceed?" The monotone voice put Lance on edge, but he tried his best to ignore that for the sake of finally getting some answers. 

"Uhh yeah. What is this place? What do you mean by 'unauthorized death'? What's going on?" He questioned the faceless man. 

"This is Midpoint, where souls go after death to be judged and sorted. Due to there being an infinite amount of different afterlives based on one's own religion, it can be a very lengthy process to place souls into the correct afterlife when they arrive. Therefore, souls needed a place to be stored until they are processed, and Midpoint is that place. In your case, however, you were not meant to die yet, hence, you are an Unauthorized Death. Due to this, you will be given the Second Chance Protocol, and be returned to the living world ASAP. I am the agent assigned to your case to be sure this all runs smoothly." Agent 2317 explained. 

"Oh, uh, I wasn't supposed to die? Then why did I die? Wait, don't tell me Keith was supposed to die? If I go back, will someone else die in place of me? Also, how does the Second Chance Protocol work? People know I've died, if I return that'll be all weird, won't it?" Lance interrogated the agent rapidly. "Oh and I'm calling you Tom. You seem like a Tom and I need a name if I'm gonna address you because Agent 2317 is weird, man." 

"Call me what you wish, it is of no consequence to me. As for your death, no, it wasn't supposed to occur quite yet. No one was supposed to die on that mission of yours, but sometimes mistakes happen. So no, your return will not cause any other deaths to occur in the place of your own soul." Tom waved the situation off. "Either way, the Second Chance Protocol has been known to give mortals confusion in the past when their loved ones suddenly return from the dead, but usually they're just happy to have them back. As for how it works, well, we just,” Tom pauses, and makes a vague sweeping motion with his hands, “send you back. Occasionally, for darker souls, we give them a test to see if they should go back, and if they pass, they must complete a quest in the living world. If they do not complete it, we reclaim their souls once more as punishment. However, for a lighter soul such as yours, you only have to complete a quest. Even if you fail, however, your soul will be safe, as that is the reward for being a light soul. Congratulations." Tom's monotone voice didn't seem to match up with the congratulations, but Lance was relieved either way. He'd actually get to go back. 

"Okay, so that sounds great. What's this quest or whatever I have to do?" Lance questioned, excited to get back to his team, no matter what the task may be. He just really wanted to see everyone again, especially Keith, who was probably blaming himself for Lance's death right now and that thought alone made Lance want to go back right that instant. 

"Hmm. Let's see here." Tom replied as he opened his briefcase and pulled out a tablet from the top of a stack of files. He switched it on and scrolled through it for a bit before tapping once on the screen. "Ah. It says here that the quest is still pending. They must still be looking through your memories and life to determine a quest best suited for your abilities."

"Oh. Looking through my whole life. Fantastic. So, whoever they are, they're gonna see all my cringey memories too?" Lance bit his lip in displeasure at the thought. He didn’t want anyone else to know some of the stuff he’s done impulsively. 

"Yes." Tom replied simply, uncaring. But maybe that was just the impression Lance was getting from his still completely monotone voice. Lance groaned and sat down. He wished he could just go back now and forgo this quest business, but he didn’t really want to possibly piss off anyone who could be in charge of where he ended up, either. 

"Well that's just great." Lance sighed dramatically. Some weird being gets to know all his darkest, most embarrassing secrets. Not Lance's idea of a great time, but it's not like he could do anything about it, unfortunately. 

"Ah! It's updated." Tom exclaimed, as much as could exclaim, as his voice was still a dull, even monotone. It was starting to get on Lance's nerves how monotone this dude was, even though he technically wasn't a dude. In all honesty, Lance just wanted to get back to his life already. That thought continued to repeat over and over in Lance’s mind. He didn’t care about the quest or what he had to do; he only cared about going back. "You must liberate the system Sania from Galran rule. Hm. Well shouldn't be too hard, as that's part of your goal anyways. Lucky you, most of the time the quest is meant to be very challenging." 

"Oh. That's it? Neat." Lance shrugged, not really knowing how to react when Tom gave no emotion whatsoever to react off of. The quest seemed easy enough. He’d just have to grab his team and head to Sania, kick some Galra ass and be done with it. 

"Yes." Tom shrugged slightly, then, when it beeped loudly, looked over at the timer with foreign characters on it before turning back to Lance. "Oh! More good news; your departure has also appeared to be moved up. You'll be heading for the mortal world in approximately fifteen seconds." 

"Oh sweet, thanks man. I'm excited to see my team again, kick Galra ass, fly Blue, all that good stuff." Lance smirked in anticipation. Then, Tom's tablet chimed, and the faceless man turned his attention towards it.

"Ah, your quest's terms have been revised. You must liberate system Sania alone, without contacting your team. If they happen to show up without your influence, that's fine, but you must not contact them yourself or through a third party until the quest is complete. Terribly sorry your plans will be put on hold, but on the bright side, you'll be departing to planet Armenia of the Sania system now. So long." Tom called, as the floor dropped out from under Lance's feet and everything went dark. 

\---------------------

Keith didn't think his day could get any worse. He guessed the universe had other plans for him though, because it definitely did get worse. Not only was Lance actually, really dead, no matter how much Keith wanted to deny it and say it wasn’t true when it was, but now, as Keith was numbly watching as Coran prepared Lance’s body for a traditional Altean-style funeral, his body vanished. Just suddenly shimmered away like it had never even been there. Worse still, his armor and bayard also vanished into thin air, and the only indication that Lance had ever been in the castle was the Blue Lion, who was dormant, and his untouched room. 

Keith had felt so angry and betrayed before. He was angry Lance had died, had left him. He was angry at the universe for taking him. Now, however, he just felt numb and empty. Before Keith had even realized what he was doing, he had stormed quickly away from the room where Lance's body had disappeared and now he was in Lance's empty room. It felt far too large and extremely cold, as if the room itself knew that Lance was gone and wasn't coming back. 

With a shaky sigh, Keith sat on Lance's bed. Then slowly, almost painfully, he crumpled down until he was curled up on his bed and trying desperately to hold his tears back, but soon enough he was crying, because Lance was gone. Bitterly, Keith wished it had been him instead because Lance didn't deserve this. Keith should have protected him. That was his job, as his teammate, as his friend, and he had failed. This was all his fault. He just wanted Lance back. Was that too much to ask, to hope for? Of course it was, because Keith knew; the dead do not return, no matter how much you wish they would.

At this point, Keith could hardly bring himself to care that the team was worried about him or that he had a job to do. He only cared that Lance was gone, and that his body had disappeared, and no one knew what was happening. It didn’t feel worth it to care about anything else but that. Nothing else was more important than finding out what the hell happened to Lance and his body.

Keith’s thoughts were interrupted when he heard the door quietly slide open and closed, and when he looked up, he saw Pidge. Pidge looked very small where she stood a few feet away in Lance’s room, looking over it slowly, almost like it hurt to do so. In all honesty, she looked about as bad as Keith felt. Instinctively, Keith patted the bed as an invitation for Pidge to sit down beside him, and, within seconds, she was there, throwing her arms around Keith as her already shaky composure broke. 

“Why did he have to die? It isn't fair. I want him back, Keith, I just want him back. How are we supposed to do anything without Lance here?” She questioned in a soft, shaky voice, sounding so much smaller and younger than Keith had ever heard from her before. 

“I don't know, Pidge. I really don't know because you're right, it isn't fair. I want him back too.” Keith whispered shakily as he finally hugged Pidge back tightly, trying his best to calm her down as well as himself. It would have killed Lance to see his team like this, broken down and miserable, even over his own death. He was always trying to keep everyone safe, keep them happy despite them being in a huge, awful intergalactic war, and this would be the last thing he would want them all to go through. They were a family now, and it was definitely no secret how much Lance cared about those he called his family. 

Keith didn't know how long he and Pidge sat like that, clinging to each other for dear life while sitting on Lance's bed. What he did know, is that having someone there definitely lessened the burden of losing Lance, at least just in the smallest way possible. Knowing that he wasn't alone, that he could go to Pidge at least in this situation, made it that much more bearable. Still, Keith was certain that he wouldn't truly be okay for quite a long time to come.

\---------------------------

When Lance woke up, his first thought was that everything hurts. Especially his stomach. With a sudden gasp of panic, his hands flew frantically to his stomach, only to discover that the stab wound was already fading, not even leaving the smallest scar behind. Shortly after that, his flight suit and armor began stitching itself back up, right before his eyes, until it looked brand new. He even noticed that his bayard was in his hand, untransformed and gleaming like it was also new. Lance had to admit, it was pretty cool that his gear was all nice and patched up again. On top of all that, a brand new robe-like garment with a large hood was also with him, and Lance immediately knew it was to protect his identity during the duration of his quest, so as not to directly lure Voltron here. Lance scowled at the thought as he held the robe up. Grudgingly, he put the robe on and flipped the hood up, and it hung low enough to cover his entire face, but the fabric must have been made with something high tech or magical, because Lance could see through the fabric without a problem. Guess that’s just another thing those afterlife immortal beings could do, Lance decided with a shrug.

Slowly standing up, Lance took in his surroundings. The buildings were all different shades of purple, and not a single one of them looked new. A few buildings looked like someone had thrown buckets of different colored paint on them in a fit of rage, or desperation, and it looked almost like they were trying to erase the purple. He noticed that the splashes of colors were limited to just five: Black, Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow. The colors of the Voltron lions. Lance knew that couldn't be a coincidence. They were desperate for Voltron to save them from the Galra. Too bad it was just Lance that was sent here, without even a lion to fight. 

Walking through the small alien city was a little depressing, to say the least. Many civilians looked thin, tired, and, when Lance passed, fearful. Mothers would hide their children behind them quickly, other people would duck quickly into an alleyway or building to get away from him. It was disheartening to see anyone in this state. Lance really wished he had his team. They'd be able to liberate this planet with Voltron within hours. If Lance had to do it alone, he just knew it would take weeks, at the very least. He sighed heavily as he realized just how difficult this task would be. Sneaky, scheming Tom, adding in that last minute restriction before throwing him out, Lance frowned at the thought bitterly. He felt like he was being toyed with, and it was not fun at all.

Eventually, Lance came across a part of the city that looked like a marketplace. It was fairly run-down, but there were other alien species walking about here, too, other than just him. Lance noticed that most of the time, purchases were made behind stalls or in alleyways, in hushed voices and rushed movements. Perhaps this marketplace was illegally set up and run, a way for citizens to earn money to survive, and maybe, to gather funds to try and fight back. He really hoped there was a group of freedom fighters on this planet. Maybe he would be able to work alongside them to liberate this planet faster. A tired sigh escaped him; Lance could only hope for the best in this scenario. Not to mention, he'd have to be extra careful. He didn't have anyone to watch his back, and he sure as hell didn't want to go and die… again. 

“Time to get to work, I guess.” Lance grumbled quietly to himself as he walked further into the marketplace, hoping to gather intel and form a plan so he could get done here quickly. The more time he spent here, the more time Keith and his team spent believing he was still dead. Lance really needed to fix that, and soon. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp. Let's hope Chapter Three gives me.... much less trouble so it can be out much sooner 😅


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which things start happening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kinda hate everything about this chapter. I tried a lil fight scene?? More Keith & Co stuff. Shiro, despite never being mentioned before is indeed here lol uhhh here ya go

Keith had found himself visiting Lance's room almost too often as the days passed. Usually it was empty, and he was the only visitor. Occasionally Pidge would join him, and most days they would tell stories and recite Lance's jokes, anything to remember him in a positive light to ease the crushing reality that he was dead. However, Keith was surprised when he walked into Lance's room, and found that Hunk was already there, sitting on the bed and staring at a framed picture dejectedly. Keith already knew what the picture was. He'd seen it a hundred times. Lance had insisted one day that the whole team gather up for a picture, and he was so excited about it that no one could really bring themselves to say no. It was the only picture they had that contained the whole team, and everyone had a copy of it. 

"Hey, Hunk." Keith greeted awkwardly as the latter looked up at him. "How… how are you?" Keith mentally slapped himself. That was a really dumb question under the circumstances. Hunk grimaced at the words, answering the question easily enough.

"He was my best friend, Keith. I just want him to come back, for him to call or walk in here right now and say it was some awful prank or something and that none of it was real. Then we could be mad about it for a bit but ultimately relieved that he’s okay, but he’s not, he’s gone and there’s nothing that can make this feel okay again." Hunk cried bitterly. "I should have gone with you guys. If I had gone too, if I had insisted, he would've been okay. Everything would be okay." Keith instantly walked over and gave Hunk an awkward hug. 

"No, don’t do that. Do not blame yourself. No one could have known what that mission would entail. I was there and I couldn't stop it, even though he was right next to me, so please, Hunk, it's not your fault so don't blame yourself." Keith vehemently stated, staring at Hunk in the eyes to make himself extremely clear. Hunk slowly nodded, and let his gaze fall back to the picture.

"I still wish I could have at least done something." Hunk whispered softly, voice breaking a little. Keith sighed heavily, exhaustion creeping in with the intake of air.

"Me too, Hunk. Me too." He muttered, as he sat beside him. “Can you… tell me about how you and Lance met?” Keith asked hesitantly, and Hunk looked over with a surprised expression that quickly morphed into a gentle smile as he placed the picture back on Lance’s nightstand.

“Oh man, you’re gonna love this. Settle in, Keith, because this story is a long one, full of the classic Lance shenanigans we all know and love.” Hunk smirked. “I’ve known Lance for years, ever since middle school. We had both just moved…” Keith smiled as Hunk animatedly continued his story, and he soaked up all the new information he was gaining about Lance and his relationship with Hunk. 

By the time the pair decided to leave the room, both were smiling as they had each exchanged story after story about Lance. It was the first time Keith had felt even slightly okay in the weeks after Lance’s death. Not to mention, he was finally talking to Hunk comfortably, something Keith had been trying to do for a long time. While things were still not okay, Keith could see that it wasn’t all bad anymore. That didn’t stop him from desperately wishing that Lance was still alive, though.

\-------------------

Lance wanted to scream. None of these aliens were being remotely helpful. The most he figured out was that there was a freedom fighting party or camp or group on this planet, but no one would tell him who the leader was, how to find them, how to join them, nothing. Every single one of them accused him of being a Galra spy, that he wanted to find them just to wipe them out. It really ticked Lance off. Of course his mission would be downright nearly impossible, and Lance was betting it was simply because he just wanted to go home as soon as possible. He wished his team would somehow find out he was alive and come grab him now, get him off this planet full of angry people.

He knew they had a right to be wary, but it was honestly getting ridiculous; he’d been searching for information for weeks and hadn’t gotten anywhere. He felt like he was wasting time that could have been used getting back to his team. He didn’t really want to do this stupid quest anymore. He sighed angrily through his nose, and brought his hands to his face to rub the frustration away. Unfortunately, while he wasn't looking where he was going, he crashed right into someone.

"Oh, shit, I'm sor-" Lance started to say, until he realized he'd crashed into a tall Galran Officer, one who liked to patrol the town and demonstrate his so called power to the citizens, often consisting of beating them, enslaving them to be gladiators, or straight up killing them when someone dared to tick him off in the slightest. And boy, he did not look happy with Lance. 

"Ah shit." Lance sighed dramatically as the officer reached for the sword at his waist, clearly wanting to cut Lance down. "I guess we're really gonna do this now, huh? Jeez you make my job so difficult." He grumbled as he grabbed his bayard and let it shift to its sword form. He really wasn’t interested in fighting this guy right now, but it appeared like he wasn’t getting much of a choice as the officer stalked towards him with a cocky smirk.

"An Altean bayard? How interesting. I thought only paladins of voltron owned such technology." The officer sneered as he slashed at Lance violently with his glowing purple sword. Lance quickly blocked with his blue energy shield and returned the favor. 

"You would be correct in that assumption, asshole." Lance smirked at him as he ducked another strike. When he slashed at the officer this time, he made a hum of satisfaction as he was able to give the surprised galran a nice long gash on his arm. The galran officer looked behind him and made a quick hand signal, and a drone came into view from behind the nearest building.

"Go back to base. Alert everyone; Voltron is here. The paladin who bears blue armor is on Armenia. Request backup from the Empire to reclaim voltron and eliminate the paladins once and for all.” The officer addressed the small drone who quickly sped off. "The whole Galra Empire will soon know you're here. They'll take back Voltron and eliminate you and your team like the pests you are." The officer grinned ferally.

"Sorry to break it to ya buddy, but I'm the only one here, and my lion? She’s safe with the team, far far far away from here. You'll never get Voltron, and, for sending false alarm about Voltron being here, I wonder what will happen to you." Lance taunted with a wide smirk and a biting tone as he quickly struck at the officer again. 

The officer just growled as he began attacking Lance with much more ferocity in his strikes than before, and Lance had to meet each one in equal turn in order to stay alive. He really wished Keith was here. He'd know how to beat this guy in seconds without even breaking a sweat. At that thought, Lance half-smiled, and pushed harder against the smug-looking galran. Somehow, Lance managed to disarm the officer and subsequently knocked him out with his own weapon. 

"Man," Lance sighed, "you really wanna make my job harder. Hopefully, though, your little message will end up getting to my team too. That would be great." Lance glanced around him to see the shocked faces of the civilians as they stared at Lance standing over the downed officer, his sword in one hand and his bayard disappearing from the other. With an annoyed huff, Lance tossed the officer’s sword aside and walked away. He really didn't want to deal with any of this right now. 

\----------------

"Paladins, I need you all to come to the bridge right away. We are attempting to intercept a Galra communication, and, should we be successful, everyone should be present." Allura's tired voice called over the intercom, and Keith frowned at it. He didn't feel like standing around watching everyone else trying to break into the Galra's communications to intercept a message, knowing he couldn’t do much, if anything, to help. Keith sighed heavily, but ended up dragging himself up and out of his room anyways. 

He wasn't surprised that he was the last one to arrive at the bridge or that everyone else was already working on something. Keith was good at fighting people and piloting ships; he didn't know how to do this, so all he could do was watch. Even Shiro was looking at things and providing opinions and suggestions where he could. Granted, he was also not exactly a tech genius like Hunk and Pidge were, but he at least knew enough to not be totally lost. 

"Oh, guys!! I got it!" Pidge eventually cried in triumph, grinning as she set the audio clip that she had gotten from the Galran communications up on her computer. The speakers on her computer crackled a bit as the audio clip started.

"Attention all fleets, Voltron has been located. A paladin in blue armor was spotted on Planet Armenia of System Sania. Requesting backup to retrieve Voltron and eliminate the paladins." When the message ended, the speakers crackled again, and then there was silence.

"Voltron is nowhere near Armenia." Allura finally commented, puzzled. "All our current paladins are right here, many billions of systems away from Sania." Her eyebrows furrowed as she stared at the computer in confusion, as if it could provide a clearer explanation.

"A paladin in blue armor?" Shiro questioned, voice strained. "Lance is… and his armor disappeared. Not even we have the blue armor. How can any of this be happening? Coran?" Shiro turned his attention to the unusually quiet Altean. 

"There is old tales in Altean history of heroes who died in battle, of children who suffered an accident and passed, of people who disappeared and turned up dead and so on, but eventually returned, safe and sound. In one such tale, a hero by the name Leona was returning home from a difficult battle, when her group was attacked by wild beasts. They were tired and unable to fend off all of the beasts before one charged at a dear friend of Leona's, and she threw herself in front of the beast, sacrificing herself to save her friend's." Coran's voice was soft as he recounted the tale. 

"However," Allura spoke up, picking the tale up where Coran left off. "Months later, Leona, alive and well, crash landed in a foreign shuttle onto Altea. When she walked out of the shuttle and got settled back at home, she would tell great tales of quests undertaken to be able to return, as she wasn't supposed to have died yet. Leona was often criticized or mocked; people thought she was some sort of demon or spirit, only there to torment those who had lost her. They didn’t believe she was actually Leona, so she ended up alone, but she continued to live until she died a natural, peaceful death well at the end of a normal Altean lifetime." Allura sighed softly.

"However, this is just an old Altean folktale. There's no way to prove Leona was real or that she really returned from the dead. I would have dismissed it completely if not for the many other stories and the slight similarities to this situation." Coran warned with a firm voice.

"You're saying though… that there may be a possibility Lance is alive? That the paladin on Armenia may be him?" Keith's voice was much louder than he intended, but he couldn't seem to get it under control, not when there was a chance he could get Lance back. "The Galra are looking for reinforcements to take whoever that person is out. If there's even the slightest chance it may be Lance, we need to go there now." Keith stared at Allura, daring her to say otherwise. 

“It’s a very old fairy tale, Keith. We will go and see, but please, let’s not get our hopes up. They could be an imposter who stole the blue paladin armor and bayard. There is no hard evidence that Lance is among the living again. I’m sorry, Keith, but I don’t want you getting hyper-fixated on it being Lance when… the most likely scenario is that is isn’t him.” Allura’s voice was soft and hesitant, and Keith could see that she desperately wanted Lance to be alive too, but she didn’t want to set herself up to be crushed if it turned out to not be him. He sighed softly and looked at the melancholy expressions of the other paladins. 

“Okay, Allura. You’re right, we’ll treat this as a simple scouting mission. If it is someone who stole Lance’s armor and bayard though… I call dibs on breaking his face.” Keith demanded, and Allura smiled at him gently, and agreed with a small nod.

“Get some rest paladins. We leave first thing in the morning for planet Armenia. It’s been a rough few weeks, but tomorrow we get back to work.” Allura smiled at the paladins around her. “Be careful out there tomorrow.” It was something Allura had never told them before, but Keith knew why he was saying it now; they all did. She couldn’t handle losing anyone else important to her again. Keith understood that feeling well.

Slowly, each paladin murmured goodbyes as they left the bridge and headed to their rooms. They all knew that tomorrow was going to be long and trying. Despite Allura’s warning, he knew that everyone aboard the castle was still hoping that the person they met the next day would indeed be Lance, even if it was highly improbable. They all just wanted Lance back, safe and sound. 

Early the next morning, you could practically see everyone’s nerves charging the air on the bridge as Allura fired up a wormhole to Armenia. Hunk started pacing as soon as the wormhole appeared and Pidge couldn’t stop bouncing and shifting in her seat restlessly. Coran was fidgeting with all sorts of things and Allura was tapping her foot incessantly as she steered the castle through. Shiro and Keith stood together against the wall; Shiro radiated nervous energy while Keith was wringing his hands nearly painfully. 

The nervous energy only got worse and worse as they traveled through the wormhole. When they finally got to the other side and the wormhole snapped shut behind them, it was like everything froze. Armenia was ahead of them, and from this distance, Keith thought it looked a lot like Earth with its various landmasses and large oceanic bodies. Except that the oceans were purple, of course. Keith looked at Allura expectantly, and as soon as she nodded, all four paladins were racing towards their lions. 

No matter what they found, Keith wanted to get down there as fast as possible. He was ready to either hug Lance or punch an imposter, whichever one ended up applying. 

He really desperately hoped he’d get to do the first option. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4, please be easier xD


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are heating up kinda sorta. Do you guys have your seatbelts on? Because pretty soon you're gonna need them 0:3

Lance wasn't exactly sure what he was expecting when he woke up that morning. The Red Lion rushing through the atmosphere in the distance sure as hell wasn't one of them, but it definitely made Lance feel giddy and excited. He was about to race to where he was sure the Lion would land, when he remembered that Tom made it clear he couldn't contact his team. Did that include when they were on the planet? Lance wasn't sure, so reluctantly, he donned the cloak he had been far too lax in wearing lately, and pulled the hood over his face, making sure he wouldn't be recognized by armor or by appearance. Slowly, he followed the crowd of aliens excitedly rushing towards the Red Lion, and watched as they grew more and more excited as the Black, Green, and Yellow lions broke through the clouds to land next to Red. 

Lance swallowed the lump in his throat when he was finally close enough to the lions to see their paladins standing on the ground in a group in front of them. Keith was looking around desperately, and Lance ducked his head and gritted his teeth, wanting nothing more than to rush up to his team. Damn Tom and his vague ass instructions, Lance thought bitterly. When Lance looked back up, Keith looked slightly crestfallen as Shiro stepped up to speak. Lance hated that look on Keith, and he wanted to yell at him that he was here, he was alive, but he couldn’t even though he desperately wanted to. 

"We have received news that this planet is in need of help. We are more than happy as paladins of Voltron to do so." Shiro paused as the crowd that had gathered before him screamed with excitement and approval. When they quieted down a bit, he continued. "We need a little bit of help too, though. Recently, we lost our dear friend, the Blue Paladin. We believe that he may be alive and on this planet, or that there may be a thief and an imposter pretending to be him. Whatever the case, I implore you, please help us find this person. He will be wearing blue armor in the same style as the armor we now wear." The crowd started murmuring loudly amongst themselves as Shiro finished, and Lance felt he could scarcely breathe. They had come here for him? They knew he was here? 

"I've seen your blue paladin!" A native alien called as she walked forward, the crowd parting before her to let her pass and get to Shiro. "Just yesterday he fought off a galran officer who is unnaturally cruel to the local population! He wielded a sword that could vanish in a moment's notice! He was very skilled in wielding it, and he disarmed and knocked the officer out within minutes! He fought the officer fiercely, but still had a sense of honor. I believe he truly is the blue paladin of Voltron!" She called, and the crowd cheered as Lance watched his team stand straighter and more confidently at the news. Keith's eyes looked as though someone had set them alight as he began scanning the crowds again, and every time his eyes passed over where Lance was standing, he felt he could scarcely breathe. 

"Does anyone know where he is now?" Shiro called loudly over the chattering crowd, but no one came forward. He turned to the female alien who had told them everything. "Please, lead me to where you saw him last. If it is Lance… we need him to come back." Lance had never heard Shiro sound so tired and concerned before. Taking a closer look at their faces, Lance now noticed that they all had some variation of red, tired eyes and dark circles. Keith looked like he hadn’t been eating, either, which made concern bubble uncomfortably in his stomach. Pidge looked so much smaller than normal, so worn down that Lance had to dig his heels into the dirt to force himself to stay put instead of running over to her and giving her a hug, promising that everything was okay. Hunk was mostly put together if you didn’t know his tells. Lance, however, could see just how tired he was from his dark eyes, tight smile, and shaking hands. 

Lance couldn’t help but feel guilty. He had died, that’s why they were all so tired and run down. He should have been more careful, and from now on, he will be. He will finish this stupid quest and return to his team. Lance turned and departed from the crowd. No one could stop him now. 

“Hey, wait.” Keith’s voice sounded behind Lance. Lance froze on the spot. Apparently there was one person who could stop him, because the sound of Keith’s voice after weeks on this planet was enough to knock the breath out of him. Pulling his hood lower over his face, Lance finally turned towards where Keith was, and when he saw Keith’s feet, despite it being such a small thing, it was proof that he was real, that he was there, and Lance’s knees felt weak with the knowledge. 

“Take your hood off.” Keith demanded, his voice was hard and cold, but Lance heard it when it wavered. 

Lance bit his lip, hard, to keep himself from saying anything. Keith would recognize his voice in an instant, and then all of this would be for nothing. He knew Tom said that he would be fine if he didn’t complete the stupid quest, but something told him that he had been lying. Somewhere deep down, he knew he had to do the quest, and do it without revealing himself to his team. So he did the last thing he had ever wanted to do in that moment; Lance shook his head, denying Keith’s request, and took off running again, ignoring how his thoughts scrambled and his heart wrenched, especially at Keith’s pleading calls as he followed close behind him, trying desperately to catch him. 

“Keith!” He heard Pidge’s sharp call, and the footsteps behind him slowed and stopped, but gradually, like Keith really hadn’t wanted to stop until he had caught Lance. “We found something, someone says they can provide a description and the exact location of where he’s been staying at night. We need to go now before-” Lance didn’t catch the last part before he had run out of earshot. Rounding a corner, Lance finally stopped, panting and gasping for air even though he knew it was hopeless to so when it felt as though his lungs and his whole chest were being constricted by heavy chains. 

Lance hated this. He wanted to go home to the castle, to see his team, to get hugs from Hunk, get lectures from Pidge and Shiro, see Blue and Allura and Coran. Most of all, he wanted to see Keith, and tell him how he felt properly, not through a haze of pain as he bled out. He wanted to hear Keith tell him he felt the same. He really wanted to hug and kiss Keith, tell him everything was gonna be okay now, and that he’s here and he won’t be leaving ever again. He wanted to show Keith just how much he loved him, because Lance didn’t think words could ever be enough to describe how he felt. He really, really just wanted to see Keith again, see him happy and healthy and worry free. Lance could swear just imagining Keith’s smile made him fall even more in love with the boy in question. 

“Oh man, I've got it bad for you Samurai. If you could see me now, pining after you like a highschool girl, I wonder what you’d say.” Lance muttered to the alleyway.

His chest constricted even further, he wanted to see him so bad, and a choked gasp was forced through his gritted teeth as he tried to calm his breathing and focus his thoughts. Once he did, he leveled his gaze in the direction he knew the galra base to be in. Standing up straight and squaring his shoulders, Lance took a deep steadying breath. He had a mission to do, and he wasn’t going to back down now that his team was literally within his grasp. 

Without a second thought or another moment of hesitation, Lance set off for base. 

Time for him to kick some galra ass. 

\-----------------------------

Keith knew he should have kept pursuing the hooded figure, especially after he had seen the way he had tensed and practically shook at just the sound of Keith’s voice. The fact that he had refused to speak or take his hood off and instead ran away was also a big red flag for Keith. The hooded figure was important, Keith could just tell. He had a gut feeling he needed to talk to him since he had seen him leaving the crowd quickly, as if he was on a mission. He had stood out to Keith, and Keith really wanted to find him especially since the place Lance was supposed to have been staying in was empty. 

There was plenty of evidence that someone had been camping in the small dirt alley for a little while. A pathway of footprints lead in and out of the alley, several days worth overlapping over and over again, and there was a blanket on the ground at the back, but there was no one here. Shiro had suggested camping out around the alley and waiting for whoever it was to return, but the alien who had led them here mentioned that he had seen the blue paladin leaving this morning, donning a cloak that he didn’t often wear, and that when he did wear it, it meant almost certainly that he wasn’t going to be back anytime soon, if ever. 

“Well that went well.” Keith commented dryly once they all returned to the castle for the night. “Couldn’t tell us anything about what he looked like even though he’d seen him around plenty of times. I really should have kept on his tail earlier! I was so close to having him!” 

“Sorry, Keith. That’s my fault. I’m the one who pulled you away, I shouldn’t have.” Pidge sighed as she sat down on the couch with an audible thump. She looked exhausted, and she rubbed at her eyes in frustration when tired tears welled up in them. 

“You guys thought you had found something important. No need to apologize, Pidge. We just have to keep looking. All we know so far is that this person, who may or may not be the real Lance, showed up only a few weeks ago. Since then, he’s been asking around about rebel groups in hopes of joining, but no one gave him any info regarding their local freedom fighting group. We know he had a run in with a galran officer and that he is proficient with his bayard. After knocking the officer out, he left him. He was at the impromptu meeting this morning and knows we are looking for him, but instead of coming forward, he walked off like he’s on a mission. Say that this is Lance; what is his next move?” Keith paced as he talked, trying to think. 

“Wanting to join the freedom fighters on the planet suggests that he wants to fight the galra there. Maybe if that’s his quest or whatever, he’s off to go fight them now?” Hunk suggested in a small voice. 

“If it is Lance, he saw how desperate we are to have him back. Why wouldn’t he have contacted us or at least revealed himself to us this morning if it was our Lance that saw that?” Pidge cried in exasperation. 

“Maybe one of the conditions of his quest prevents him from doing so. If Hunk is right, and he’s not allowed to contact us until his quest is complete, there is a good chance he is gearing up to raid the galra base and he’s probably planning on going alone since he couldn’t join the rebel fighters.” Shiro added as he, too, dropped himself heavily on the couch, running a hand over his face tiredly. “Especially now after seeing us like this. You know what Lance is like.”

“Yeah, that does sound like something the stupid idiot would do.” Keith growled darkly. “If that is his plan, he’s in big trouble, especially with that backup the officer called in for probably not being too far behind now. Does he even know how dangerous this could be, especially without a Lion?” Keith threw his hands up in the air in frustration as he continued to pace restlessly. 

“We should get closer to the base. Keep an eye on it. Any sign of trouble or intruders, and we go in with our lions. Remember though, this may not be Lance we are pursuing. Don’t forget that there is a large possibility that this is just an imposter, despite it seeming like it really could be Lance.” Everyone mumbled a half hearted agreement at Shiro’s reminder. “Listen, I know. I want it to be Lance just as much as the rest of you, trust me, but we can’t be dead set on it being him. I hate to say it, but… we watched Lance die. I don’t know how it could possibly be Lance after what happened, but, I too hope that by some miracle he is alive and down there on that planet right now. But we can’t be set on it when the odds are against us.” 

“Shiro is right.” Allura commented as she and Coran entered. They both looked so worn down, and Keith was grateful that they seemed to want Lance back just as much as the rest of them did. Everyone here loved and cared for Lance, and Keith knew they would all stop at nothing to get him back. Just like they all knew Lance would do the very same thing for them. 

“Okay team. Go get some rest. If this person is planning on hitting that base, he’s probably going to do it before first light and try to catch the galra off guard. We need to be well rested if we plan on being an effective backup.” Shiro stood and turned to Allura. “Allura, can you get us within range to observe that base? As soon as there’s movement, we need to move, and that would be easier if we’re closer.” 

“Of course. You should get some rest too, Shiro. You’ll need the energy if you’re to lead the team tomorrow. Me and Coran can take shifts observing the base, and we will let you all know as soon as anything moves.” Allura promised, but stared at Shiro in a way that demanded you listen to her advice. With a heavy sigh, Shiro caved and nodded, and waved at the team to go to bed too, before heading off to his own room.

Keith frowned, but he returned to his room too, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to sleep very much. He kept replaying the moment the hooded figure ran away from him, how he had roughly shook his head at his demand, almost like he hated not doing exactly what he had asked of him, like it hurt him to say no. Keith’s stomach felt like a bottomless pit and he paced across his room. 

The hooded figure was Lance. He just had to be. Keith knew it was Lance in his gut, there was no one else it could be, no one else who would react that way to Keith. 

He wanted nothing more than to go down to the planet right now and wreak havoc in his search for Lance. He knew he would be down there somewhere. He just wasn’t sure where. One thing was for sure though, one thing Keith promised himself over and over again as he paced restlessly, waiting for the alarm to signal him. 

“I’m coming for you, Lance.” Keith swore to the darkness of his room. “No matter what.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it has been FOREVER, and I am so sorry!! I have like 2 whole different chapter 4's because of how much trouble this gave meeeee ugh 
> 
> I think I like how this chapter came out? I hope you all liked it! I worked really hard on this one ;w;


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is a badass, happy fam, Tom makes a brief reappearance, I suggest you buckle your seatbelts kiddos.

Lance was up long before sunrise the next day; he was ready to end this, no matter what. Today was the day he got back to his team. The previous weeks he had been planning this down to the last detail, and he had memorized the schedule of the base’s inhabitants. He knew where his entrances and exits were. He didn’t have a solid floor plan, but that was normally intel that Pidge provided, and Lance didn’t exactly have access to that this time. Not that it mattered too terribly much, even though it would have helped his plan considerably. Lance had always excelled at improvising. Well, he thought so, anyway. Looks like he was about to find out, one way or another. 

Using the cover of the darkness provided by the lack of a sun and the shadows cast by nearby buildings, Lance snuck up as close to the base as he could. Right on time, the guards out front began to file back inside, and Lance knew that he had about thirty minutes to get in before the next guard shift started. Hoisting a bag of explosives he had been buying and stockpiling from the various black markets around town while he asked around for the rebel groups, not that he had much luck, Lance scurried into the base on silent feet. The halls were dead and empty, devoid even of droids and sentries. It was the dead hour, when the guards between shifts were all doing paperwork or getting prepared for their shift and the mechanical lookouts were getting charged and assessed for any repairs or updates they may need. If Lance was fast enough, sneaky enough, no one would even know he had been here until it was far too late. 

Lance ran further into the base, and when he got to what he believed was the center, or at least close to it, he placed his first bomb, concealing it under a control desk that had been abandoned when the night shift ended. Quickly, Lance made his way through the base, going towards the exit while hiding bombs on every load bearing wall or important machinery he could find. He wanted nothing to be left of this base when he flipped the switch, no doubt that he had completed this stupid quest. When he had used up all his explosives, he tossed the bag in a random corridor and held the detonator in one hand and his bayard in the other and booked it towards his nearest exit. He knew he was running out of time. 

He was only steps from the exit when the morning shift started; guards and sentries started pouring out of the rooms, and he was instantly spotted. Lance cursed and took off at a faster sprint, alarms blaring and guards chasing him down, shouting frantic orders to each other. When he had gotten about fifty yards from the base, not nearly as far as he had wanted to be but he decided it would have to do, Lance hit the detonator, and a boom echoed across the area as the base exploded from many points all at once. The blast’s shockwave was so strong that it still knocked Lance off his feet from that distance, sending him tumbling head over heels painfully.

The impact left everything blurry and muted, and Lance was very disoriented. All he could make out was that the sentries had been fried in the blast, but the guards that were chasing him were already recovering, and they looked pissed even with the blurry haze that was Lance’s vision. He saw the blurry shape of one coming right after him, practically running at him like a bear ready to tear his throat out, and he scrambled backwards, desperately trying to stand, but his legs would not cooperate. He watched helplessly as the large purple blur stalked closer to him. Until a large red blur mowed him down with a ferocious roar that Lance could feel reverberating in his chest. 

Lance blinked and suddenly, he saw the blurry face of Keith above him. Keith gently lifted him and threw back his hood, despite Lance’s jumbled protests and weak excuses. Keith was saying something, but Lance couldn’t hear him. He was muffled, and his ears wouldn’t stop ringing. Lance couldn’t be sure if it was the blast, the roar, or just his brain going crazy that caused it. All he knew is that he kept saying one thing, like a prayer or a mantra of some sort. 

“Keith. You came for me. Oh my god you came for me. You’re here, Keith, you’re here.” Lance choked on the words and lifted a hand up to Keith’s face. “You’re real, right? I’m not dreaming? I’m not dead again, am I? This would really suck if I was dead again, you would not believe how dull and crappy the afterlife is.” Keith’s breathless chuckle crashed into Lance like a freight train, and he knew that he would do anything for him, as long as he could hear Keith’s laugh again.

“Only you would complain about the afterlife being shitty.” Keith reached down and placed a hand on Lance’s face as well. “Yeah, sharpshooter, I’m real. You’re alive.” Keith’s voice cracked. 

“Oh that’s good. Are the galra gone? My quest was to liberate this planet, alone. Did I do it before you got to me?” Lance interrogated him, searching his eyes. “I didn’t get a chance to look. My vision is kinda blurry; I got knocked around pretty hard by that blast.” Lance admitted. 

“Yeah, Lance. The others are telling me that the base is completely demolished. Not a single galra left in sight. You did it, and in the most reckless Lance way possible, didn’t you?” Keith chuckled.

“Nah, I took the idea of blowing the place up from your handbook, Samurai.” Lance smirked at Keith widely. “Shoot first, ask questions later. That’s kinda your thing, isn’t it?” Keith smiled at Lance so gently that Lance thought his heart might just burst and he would melt right there in Keith’s arms. That was a fate he could live with. 

“Yeah, maybe.” Keith admitted. “But you can’t deny you’ve always been a bit reckless, too.” Lance laughed loudly at that; Keith was in no way wrong in that account. 

“LANCE!” Lance flinched as he heard the bellowing voice of Pidge, seconds before he was buried under her smaller form as she tackle-hugged him. “Oh my god, it’s really you, you’re back, you’re alive!” She cried as she looked over him, as if checking again and again that he was indeed real. 

“Glad to have you back, buddy.” Hunk sniffled, barely holding back tears. Then all at once he picked Lance up in a big bear hug and just let his happy tears flow. Lance couldn’t even blame him; he felt like crying too. He had been wanting a hug from his friends for so long and now, he was finally getting them. 

“Good to see you, Lance. I’m… I’m really glad you’re back, safe and sound.” Shiro smiled at Lance and patted him on the back, because Hunk was still bear hugging him and it didn’t look like he was letting go anytime soon. Lance was okay with that though. 

“Good having you back to your old self, my boy. You’ll have to tell me everything once we all get some well needed rest! I’m sure it’s a thrilling tale that could rival some of my own!” Coran called, gesturing wildly, and Lance was pleased to see the older Altean so excited and happy. He would definitely tell him everything, and maybe he’d exaggerate just a bit to see Coran excited to hear and learn about something new and crazy all at once. He could tell from the bags under his eyes that he desperately needed it.

Lance looked behind the older Altean and saw Allura standing there, a big grin on her face as tears welled up in her eyes. Lance slowly pulled a protesting Hunk off of him, and turned towards the princess. Allura walked up to him slowly, hesitantly, as if she thought that if she got too close, Lance would disappear. 

“You made it back. Oh, Lance, I’m so glad it was you we found. I’m so glad you’re okay.” Allura drew him in to a friendly hug, and buried her face into Lance’s shoulder, trying to hide her tears. “I was so afraid that it wouldn’t be you, that we had lost you forever.” Lance brought his arms up and returned the hug tightly. 

“No, it’s me. I’m okay guys. I’m here, and I promise you I’m staying for good this time.” Lance swore as he looked at them all in the eyes in turn. His vision had cleared by now, and he never wanted to stop looking at them, at his family. He also wanted them to see he was completely serious, that he really wasn’t going anywhere. He refused to be separated from his family ever again. That was a promise he planned to keep for forever, no matter the cost.

“Good. You better stay.” Keith commented, in an almost threatening tone as he crossed his arms stubbornly. Lance couldn’t help but smile; this is what he missed. His team. His friends. His family. 

“I will.” Lance promised vehemently. “For now though, let’s go home. To the castle. I’ve missed my bed. Oh! And Blue! I haven’t seen her in too long. How has she been without me?” Lance questioned them, even though he knew the answer already.

“She’s been completely unresponsive, but I’m sure she’ll be up and right as rain when you go to see her!” Coran called cheerily. 

“Yes, she will be happy to see her paladin back alive and well. First though, you’re going to the medbay. You’ll need to be checked up just in case, if only to put my mind at ease that you really are okay.” Allura commented firmly and Lance sighed in agreement. 

“Fineee. Not too much poking and prodding though, okay? After the month I've had, I need some heavy sleep in my own bed ASAP.” Lance replied with a small smile. “Besides, I'm okay. I promise.” 

“I believe you, but still best to be safe than sorry. Now, let’s go home, shall we?” She smiled at him, and Lance smiled back. 

“Yes please, I miss that place. And all of you.” Lance commented, and looked at them each in turn, ending on Keith with a pointed smirk. Keith could only manage to look away with a small smile, before he walked up and grabbed a hold of Lance’s hand, and wordlessly led him towards the Red Lion. As soon as they were in the control room, Keith engulfed Lance in the biggest hug he’d gotten, and Lance even stumbled back a few steps from the sheer force of the impact Keith made when he barreled into him. 

Lance didn’t wait a second before wrapping Keith up in a hug just as tight and secure back. In almost perfect unison, they both took a deep breath, and relaxed considerably. Both of their exhales were shaky and delicate, like the people they had come from were glass and on the verge of shattering. 

“You're alive.” Keith murmured into his shoulder shakily. “Oh my god, Lance, you’re alive.” 

“Yeah, I’m alive. Can’t get rid of me that easy, apparently. Guess even the dead guys didn’t want me around quite yet. They weren’t ready to deal with Loverboy Lance, best sharpshooter of all time!” Lance exaggerated for effect, and was absolutely elated to hear the shaky giggle that escaped Keith’s mouth. It was breathy too, like he had tried holding it back but it just had to escape all in one breath. Keith looked up at him with soft, shining eyes. 

“Good. I wasn’t ready to give you up just yet. They’re just gonna have to wait.” Keith smirked, and reached up to push a lock of Lance’s hair behind his ear. “Your hair got longer while you were gone. You look tired, too. How are you doing?” He asked quietly in gentle concern. 

“I’m doing wonderfully, now at least. You’re here. I’m going home to you, the castle, the team. I survived whatever shit show this was. I’m great.” Lance answered honestly with a soft smile that Keith returned in an instant. They sat down on the floor together, letting Red fly herself to the castle, and the two just held each other while they soaked up and processed the events that had led them here. Lance was beyond thrilled to be here with Keith, and ecstatic to be going back where he’d spend so much more time with him and the rest of his team from now on.

As soon as the lion landed, Lance couldn’t help but run. He wanted to see Blue first. He had been reunited with his team, yes, and he would revel in that in just a bit, but he missed Blue too. Blue was like his best friend, she knew everything about Lance and what he felt and thought because he talked to her regularly. Not to mention the lion could literally read his mind if she so pleased. Not that that mattered much to Lance. He just wanted to see her. He missed her too, so much. 

When Lance finally got to her hangar doors, a thick sense of apprehension and dread made him pause just before the doors. He shook his head and shoved the strange feeling down before shoving the doors open and running into the hangar. There Blue sat, just like she had when they first found her. However, unlike last time, when Lance went up and touched the particle barrier, Blue didn’t react. Her eyes didn’t even do so much as light up. No purrs, rumbles, sound, or movements occured at all. 

“Blue?” Lance called, ignoring the doors opening again behind him. “Blue it’s me. What’s up? Why won’t you let me in?” Lance knocked gently on the barrier, but still got no response. 

“That’s not good.” Keith commented as he came up to stand beside Lance. He, too, reached out to touch the particle barrier, but Blue remained still and quiet. “What do you think her problem is?” Keith turned to look at Lance, who was crestfallen. He slowly let his hand slide off the barrier and looked down. 

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I died in the first place. She doesn’t seem to recognize me anymore.” Lance whispered, like the words hurt him. Keith moved closer and put a gentle hand on Lance’s shoulder and turned him away from the lion, and lead him slowly out of the hangar. 

“Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s only temporary. Let’s get you to the medbay before Coran has a stroke, okay? You know how he gets when we go off and ignore his advice.” Keith smirked and Lance had to smile at that. 

“Yeah, you’re right. Everything will be okay now. I made it back. Blue… will recognize me again. I’ll be okay.” Lance stated, more for Keith than himself. Blue had never been so unresponsive to him. What if she was waiting for her next paladin already? A better paladin than Lance? After all, he had died. She could find someone who won’t die so easily, probably. I mean, what else could be the cause of this?

“Ah, Lance! Welcome back, my boy. Come now, sit down so I can get a proper look at you. Keith, why don’t you go and make sure Lance’s room is ready for him to go and sleep there as soon as we’re done? He must be exhausted after this trial; we all are.” Coran commented with a gentle smile as they walked in. Keith wordlessly nodded, and before he turned and left, he gave Lance a reassuring pat on the back. Well, Lance thought it was supposed to be reassuring. It came off more awkward though. Lance still appreciated the sentiment. 

As soon as Lance sat down where Coran had indicated, the older Altean was fussing over him ceaselessly. Asking so many questions Lance couldn’t keep up, using various machinery, and rattling on about various things. Lance tried to listen to him, he really did, but he couldn’t get his mind off of what had happened with Blue.

“Coran?” Lance called, and the Altean paused in his movements to look at Lance inquisitively. “I went to Blue’s hangar as soon as I got here. You know, I just, I missed her. Coran, she didn’t respond to me. Like, nothing. It was like I wasn’t even there. What… what does that mean?” Lance asked hesitantly, watching Coran’s face for any indication of what he was thinking, but he was far too good at keeping a neutral thinking face for Lance to really get anything for his efforts. 

“I’m not quite sure, Lance. However, your situation is a unique one. We don’t know anything except that you are alive and back home with us. That’s what is most important. The rest can be figured out in time. For now, though, you’re all good from what I can tell, but you should go get some rest. You’ve been through quite a lot.” Coran smiled at Lance kindly, and offered his hand to help Lance to his feet. Lance hesitated for only a second before taking it, and Coran hoisted him to his feet with little effort. “Do come talk to me anytime you need to, especially if you feel something is wrong, okay? We need to be sure you’re really okay after everything that has happened. After all, I don’t think we could handle losing our beloved blue paladin again.” Lance smiled brightly at Coran’s words, and quickly jumped up and tackled him in a hug. 

“Thank you, Coran. Thank you for caring about me. Thank you all so much for coming to get me. I…” Lance’s voice cracked and he couldn’t finish his sentence, but Coran seemed to understand, and patted Lance’s back as he hugged the paladin back.

“No need to thank me, Lance. We’re family. I know you would have done the same for any of us. We all know that.” Coran told him gently as he rubbed Lance’s back. “You’re home now. You’re safe, Lance. I promise.” 

Those were the exact words Lance needed to hear. It felt as if all the stress he had been under had finally been lifted from his shoulders and he felt so much lighter. He could finally relax. Coran was absolutely right. Lance was home. What could possibly go wrong or happen now that he was back with his family? Lance was fine, and now he finally felt safe too. 

“Okay.” Lance finally stepped back with a smile. “You’re right. Thank you Coran. I’m gonna head to bed now. Goodnight!” Lance waved and Coran smiled and waved back at him as he left. 

It finally hit Lance just how exhausted he was. Now that he had finally relaxed, he could feel the wear of what he had been through settling firmly into his bones. He couldn’t wait to get some sleep. He sure as hell needed a long time to just be able to sleep and recover, and knowing he now had that and with the safety of a room and his team nearby, was all extremely comforting to Lance.

However, upon entering his room, Lance faltered. Keith was still there, sitting on his bed and staring at the picture of them all on his nightstand table. Lance couldn’t help but note that Keith looked so comfortable and relaxed where he was, like he had done this many times before. 

“Keith? You alright, buddy?” Keith flinched at the sound of Lance’s voice, and his head whipped over to face him, eyes wild. Seeing Lance standing there, Keith relaxed again, smiling at him, and his eyes looked so kind and soft, like violet pools and Lance wanted to let himself drown in them. God, he loved this boy.

“Yeah, I was just uh, can we… talk?” Keith looked down at the floor while he spoke, like he was worried. “Just, the least time we really talked and we were alone… well, y’know.” Keith frowned, like he wanted to get that memory out of his head. 

“Can we talk in the morning?” Lance hated to ask that of him, but he knew he was too tired to absorb or process anything important, and whatever Keith wanted to talk about, Lance considered it top priority. He wanted to be fully rested and alert so he could give him his full attention. “I’m exhausted. Also…” Lance hesitated, “do you wanna stay here tonight? It’s my first night back, and I’m still kind of worried that none of this is real, so… do you mind?” Lance asked softly, smiling at Keith when his head snapped up to evaluate what Lance had said to him. 

“Yeah, okay. I’ll stay. Uh, like I can go grab my bedding and sleep on the floor or-” Lance shook his head, making Keith stop talking. He walked over and climbed into his bed after shutting the light off, and patted the space next to him. 

“Stay here? Please?” Keith nodded, and awkwardly laid down next to him, pulling the blankets up for both of them. 

“Did you mean what you said?” Keith whispered softly in the dark after a moment of silence, like he just couldn’t hold it back anymore. “When you said you loved me too?” Lance reached out and grabbed Keith’s hand, giving it a small squeeze. 

“Of course. You were also my biggest motivation in finishing that awful, idiotic quest so I could make it back.” Lance admitted, and smiled when Keith brought his hand up to his lips and placed a soft kiss on the back of his hand. 

“Good.” He murmured, and Lance felt the bed shift as Keith finally relaxed. Lance chuckled softly. 

“Get some sleep, Samurai. I’ll still be here when you wake up, promise. I’m not going anywhere ever again.” Lance whispered, and mimicked what Keith had just done to him, placing a gentle kiss on the back of Keith’s hand that was still interlocked with his own. Soon enough, Keith’s breathing evened out, and Lance was not too far behind when falling asleep. 

Gray walls. Cold room. Endless, open space. Lance was back in Midpoint, he realized, and his stomach dropped as the panic crawled up his throat. He looked around frantically for Keith, for anything, hoping that this wasn’t real, but all he saw was a man sitting with his legs crossed on a big black armchair, his lean and inhuman face pulled into a dark, triumphant sneer. 

“So you thought you were done? You thought you were safe? Oh, poor little paladin. You have much more to do before we release your soul.” He said, in classic monotone voice as he held up a container with a shifting blue mass. “We own your life. Now you’ll listen to us, or die.” Lance knew that voice. It was Tom, but how or why he had a face now, Lance didn’t know. He almost preferred him as a blank slate. His cocky smirk was really getting on Lance’s nerves. 

“Why and how am I back here? Why are you doing this?” Lance growled. “I did your stupid quest.” Tom laughed at that, and Lance saw that he had pointed teeth, and his red eyes gleamed in a mocking way as he looked back at Lance. He twirled a length of his long, obsidian black hair before grinning smugly at Lance as he tucked the hair behind his long, pointed ears, purposely taking his sweet time to watch Lance fume. He liked this guy less and less by the second.

“Well, you technically are not actually at Midpoint. This is a dream, but make no mistake, this is very real. As for the quest? Well, the completion of it was actually akin to you signing a contract, granting us your soul. Of course, had you not done the quest, we would have killed you anyways, so you didn’t really have a choice in the matter to begin with, but to see you struggle so futilely only to sign your own life away in the process was quite entertaining.” Tom grinned. “Your next task is simple. Hurt the paladin known as Keith. You must stab him, with this blade.” Tom tossed a galran knife at Lance’s feet, and Lance recognized it as a smaller version of the one he had been stabbed with. 

Before Lance could even react, he sat up in bed, gasping for breath. Keith was gone.

And in Lance’s hands, was the blade Tom had given him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ....I'm kinda sorry? But not really 0:3 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter!!! You can find more works on my profile here or on my tumblr, @luna-teller! I am now going to run away before I get chased by pitchforks :3


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